A health watchdog has raised concerns about planned changes to Rutland's same treatment services. 

A report by Healthwatch Rutland has highlighted a number of concerns about the changes planned for the services that currently operate out of the Rutland Memorial Hospital. 

The Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (LLR ICB) announced plans to replace the existing Minor Injury Service and Urgent Care Service with a Minor Illness and Minor Injuries (MIMI) unit that would operate from the hospital in Cold Overton Road, Oakham, with a change in opening hours and an end to a walk in service. 

Currently the minor injuries unit runs from 10am to 6pm and then it switches over to an urgent care centre from 6.30pm to 9pm and from 9am to 7pm at weekends. The proposal is the new MIMI unit would be open eight hours each day (suggested from 1pm to 9pm) and appointments would be booked via a GP or NHS 111. 

The ICB said, in the public consultation, that the changes were needed due to the increasing size of Rutland and because the current system is confusing. There are also plans to extend the adjacent Oakham Medical Centre into space within the Rutland Memorial Hospital. The cost of running the service would remain at £315,000. 

While welcoming the new combined service to reduce confusion about the current operations, a report by Healthwatch, outlining its consultation response, raised: 

• Concerns over reduced hours of service from 75 to 56 hours per week. 
• Frustration over the continued need to travel to other centres in Melton, Stamford or Leicester due to X-ray availability at Rutland Memorial Hospital being only two days a week. 
• Anxiety that one of the main routes into the new service will be via NHS 111 which people do not trust due to experiencing inconsistent response times or long waits on the phone, misdirection of patients to closed or distant facilities, and doubts about the reliability of medical advice given over the phone. 
• Concern that the proposals do not allow for walk-in access to the new service. 

There was a proposal at Rutland County Council's scrutiny meeting last week to look at the planned change to consider whether it would reduce the use of out of county services. However, chairperson of the committee Ramsay Ross (Lab) withdrew the proposal, and the scrutiny board decided to look at the matter in future months when the results of the consultation were available. 

The consultation ended in March, but the ICB is yet to publish anything. It is proposed the new service is up and running next year. 

A spokesperson for the ICB said: "The timelines for reviewing the consultation feedback are in line with expectations and the new service model is still planned to be in place by April 2026. The independent report of findings will be reviewed internally before being published. The timeline for publication will depend on what the findings show and whether any adjustments will need to be made to the proposed service model. 

"We are grateful for the insight provided by Healthwatch, which will be acknowledged in the final consultation report. We would like to thank everyone who responded to the consultation."